Summary:
Tens of thousands of students and school pupils walked out of class, marched, and occupied buildings around the country in the second day of the protest against education cuts and higher tuition fees. The total estimation of students attending more than dozen protest runs up to 130.000 students, there were isolated incidents of violence and skirmishes with police. There was one exception at the end of the evening when police mounted on horses charged at about 1000 student gathered near Trafalgar Square. Michael Gove, the education secretary said the government would not waver, adding: “I respond to arguments, I do not respond to violence”. The biggest single protest was in London, where about 5000 people spent hours in Whitehall as officers thought about the prevention of chaotic scenes. About 3000 students and school pupils gathered to protest in Manchester, and a similar number gathered in Liverpool. Around 2000 people protested in Sheffield, 1000 doing so in Leeds and 3000 in Brighton. In Cambridge there were small incidents as a crowd tried to storm the university’s Senate House. On the other side there is Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, whose pre-election pledge to oppose increased tuition fees has made him the target of student anger, because he could not hold to his promise. "I regret of course that I can't keep the promise that I made because – just as in life – sometimes you are not fully in control of all the things you need to deliver those pledges," he told one of several angry callers to BBC Radio 2's Jeremy Vine Show. "Of course I massively regret finding myself in this situation."But he said that the fact the Liberal Democrats had been forced into a coalition, and that the country's finances were worse than they had anticipated, meant they had to accept "compromise". Of all protests a total of 17 people were treated for injuries in Londen. Police said 32 people had been arrested.
Opinion:
It is smart and good of the students to protest against the education cuts and higher tuition fees, especially when they were promised that the tuition fees would not increase. In this way they can show how angry they are and that they are not willing to accept this without a fight. Looking at the few incidents and the video on the site (click on the link above), I believe that they need to focus to keep their anger focused on the people who are thinking about increasing the tuition fees, and not trying to destroy things in and around the city because that will only work in their disadvantage and it will hurt the cause they fight for.
I think that it is dispicable to use violence. I agree with you that this is not the way to protest against the education cuts and higher tuition fees. I also agree that it is not fair that students must pay higher education fees,especially when they were promised that the tuition fees would not increase. On the other hand I think Nick Clegg is right about that students must urged the ‘true picture’ about government plans to raise tuiton fees. The economic situation is worse and government must cut in some benefits. If it is true that lower incomes are better off with the new system than the students must consider the new plans. Students think that that higher debt will pun many people off from applying to university.
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